Acknowledgements¶
The Canadian Aquatic Barriers Database is the result of a lot of hardwork by a lot skilled, insightful, and dedicated people across Canada and North America. I would like to extend heartfelt thanks to the following groups and individuals.
First of all, the CABD only exists due to all the painstaking work done by many groups and organizations who have compiled and maintained existing barrier inventories across North America, and either made them openly available or entered into data-sharing agreements with us. A special thank you to these groups! The CABD simply builds off this existing work, and I hope that our work to fill data gaps can benefit original data holders in return. If you are the maintainer of one of the data sources on this page, and would like to chat about how we can share some of our data updates back to you, please contact us at cabd@cwf-fcf.org.
The CABD also owes a debt of gratitude to Scott Jackson, Erik Martin, and Josh Noseworthy for the hours of discussion and valuable input during the conceptualization of the CABD project. The databases and tools associated with the North Atlantic Aquatic Connectivity Collaborative, The Nature Conservancy’s Northeast Aquatic Connectivity Assessment Project, The Nature Conservancy of Canada’s Freshwater Conservation Blueprint were significant inspirations for the CABD.
I would also like to thank everyone who participated (and is currently participating) in our stakeholder engagement processes. This includes over 40 individuals across Canada who completed user requirements interviews and the current and former members of our CABD user and advisory groups. The CABD simply would not exist in its current form without all the valuable feedback and input provided by these individuals, and we’re excited to continue to engage with partners and stakeholders across the country!
Also, the database and web tool would, quite literally, not exist without the talented development consultants that have built the CABD. A special thank you to the Refractions Research Inc. team (Emily Gouge, Chris Hodgson, and Philip Kayal) who are responsible for the development of the database and back-end infrastructure, and the Foundry Spatial Ltd. team (Jam Hamidi, Ben Kerr, Lucas Kearns, Siena Testa, Chris Tooley, and (formerly) Duncan Robinson) who are responsible for the development of the web tool and front-end infrastructure.
This project would not have been possible without the necessary resources to build the CABD – thank you to Fisheries and Oceans Canada’s Freshwater Habitat Science Initiative, the RBC Foundation’s RBC Tech for Nature program, and to CWF donors across Canada for providing the financial support for the CABD.
Thank you to the incredible Canadian Wildlife Federation staff who have helped make this project a reality – particularly, the IT and Operations team, the Communications team, the Finance team, and the Fundraising team.
Thank you to Rick Bates and David Browne for empowering the CABD team with the resources, support, and trust necessary to implement a project of this magnitude and complexity. And a special thank you to Nicolas Lapointe for sharing your vision of a national database of aquatic barriers for Canada and for the countless hours of support, discussions, strategic planning, and guidance to help bring that vision to life.
And last, but certainly not least, a huge thank you to the CABD team, including current members (Elita Depew, Alex Laudadio, Tomas Milla-Koch, and Katherine O’Hearn) and former members (Olivia Baudet, David Scott, Stephanie Taylor, and Athena Victorio). You have performed hundreds of hours of manual data compilation, review, and standardization, without which there would be no data to populate the CABD. The workflows, processes, and strategic plans developed by the team will ensure the success and utility of the CABD now, and into the future. I hope you all feel a sense of pride and accomplishment for what we have achieved – you are the backbone and heart of the CABD project.
– Nick Mazany-Wright, CABD Project Manager